Topic: how to do a king kong

[jordan wallace]

i need to know how to pratice a king kong if any one know how to do one can u help all i know how to do is a side vault only can u guys help

[Memitchi]

I suggest learning the speed vault before learning the kong vault. This video helped me learn the speed vault:

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lR8bn1KdLTA" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lR8bn1KdLTA</a>

[Anthony Hadouken]

do you mean a kong vault?

[Code Red]

I was thinking more Kong vault, then speed. either way I guess.

[Ian Want]

do you mean a kong vault?

He does, but a king kong vault was the original name for it which was eventually shortened to Kong. =D

And if you are trying to learn your kong, the way I usually teach them is find a wall you feel comfortable with, and start trying to pop both your feet up between your hands, on to the top of the wall. As you start to feel more comfortable, do this from a walk, then a run, and then you should be able to just go over it.

Remember, on a shorter wall you will have to use your legs and dip down as close to eye level with the object as you can. BUT when you dip down, you must also jump from further away from the object as well.

Finally, about foot placement; as you set for your kong, have your feet split but still pretty close to eachother, and STILL JUMP OFF BOTH FEET. Alot of people when they are told to split their feet end up trying to kong by lifting one foot at a time. This will really cut your power down.

I think that covers some basics. Any more questions, I'd be happy to help!

[Memitchi]

I learned the kong first, and I regret it. When I started learning the speed after the kong, I was trying to do it like a kong. Personally, I wish I could have learned the speed first, but it is your choice.

Whenever you think you are ready for the kong, here is the video that taught me to do my kong:

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXH7FHfMCH0" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXH7FHfMCH0</a>

[Ian Want]

I learned the kong first, and I regret it. When I started learning the speed after the kong, I was trying to do it like a kong. Personally, I wish I could have learned the speed first, but it is your choice.

Your absolutely right that it is up to the person to figure out what they want to learn, but the Kong is such a bread and butter move for parkour. Yes, the speed vault is cool and aggressive, but there are so many more moves that stem from the basic kong, also the kong is a more universal move that can be used in more situations then a speed vault IMO.

Kong gainers, double kongs, kong to cat, KP, kong to any other vault, triple kong, KP to (insert favorite flip here), Kash.

Although, I DO find that there are a few other vaults that are very similar that would be learned WHILE you get your speed vault down. Safety, Lazy, Speed, and Dash (in that order) is a great progression to learn the more accessible vaults.

[Memitchi]

Your absolutely right that it is up to the person to figure out what they want to learn, but the Kong is such a bread and butter move for parkour. Yes, the speed vault is cool and aggressive, but there are so many more moves that stem from the basic kong, also the kong is a more universal move that can be used in more situations then a speed vault IMO.

Kong gainers, double kongs, kong to cat, KP, kong to any other vault, triple kong, KP to (insert favorite flip here), Kash.

Although, I DO find that there are a few other vaults that are very similar that would be learned WHILE you get your speed vault down. Safety, Lazy, Speed, and Dash (in that order) is a great progression to learn the more accessible vaults.

Don't get me wrong, the kong is my favourite vault, but why would kong gainers, double kongs, or kong to cats affect anything? An absolute beginner shouldn't worry about those. By the time he is ready for any of those moves, he should be able to do all of the basics. Personally, since I learned the kong first, I believe that the speed vault would be easier to learn without knowing the kong. I had a lot of trouble with the speed vault, due to the habits formed by the kong vault.

[Ian Want]

Yes, Kong gainers are way more advanced, but the rest are pretty commonly used moves.

And I know an absolute beginner wouldn't be worrying about them. Of course they wouldn't. Thats why I was giving my advice on the matter... to help a beginner look a little more to the future. Plus, as I said it was just my opinion on why a kong is more important.

And yes, one will have difficulty with a speed vault if they are trying to use habits formed by a kong, because speed vaults do not work the same way.

But again, I'm simply reiterating the fact that I was just giving my opinion on the matter and would like to point out I also gave reasons why learning a speed vault first would be helpful.

But then again Jordan didn't start this thread to be told to learn a different vault. He simply wanted advice on the Kong... so I gave it to him. Thanks for your input on what I had to say though! =D

[Anthony Hadouken]

Hawaii PK has a good kong tutorial on youtube, that should help

[Ian Want]

Hawaii PK has a good kong tutorial on youtube, that should help

Ozzie has a strong grasp on fundamentals and would be a good person to look up in this case. Agreed.

[Crosion_5]

He does, but a king kong vault was the original name for it which was eventually shortened to Kong. =D

And if you are trying to learn your kong, the way I usually teach them is find a wall you feel comfortable with, and start trying to pop both your feet up between your hands, on to the top of the wall. As you start to feel more comfortable, do this from a walk, then a run, and then you should be able to just go over it.

Remember, on a shorter wall you will have to use your legs and dip down as close to eye level with the object as you can. BUT when you dip down, you must also jump from further away from the object as well.

Finally, about foot placement; as you set for your kong, have your feet split but still pretty close to eachother, and STILL JUMP OFF BOTH FEET. Alot of people when they are told to split their feet end up trying to kong by lifting one foot at a time. This will really cut your power down.

I think that covers some basics. Any more questions, I'd be happy to help!

Both feet??  You can do a kong vault either way.  Two feet is better for higher obstacles, while one foot is better for long obstacles.

[Ian Want]

Both feet??  You can do a kong vault either way.  Two feet is better for higher obstacles, while one foot is better for long obstacles.

Well I and all my teammates have had lots of success doing it with two feet, slightly split, pushing off of both at the same time on both long and tall obstacles. Also, if you watch Toby Segar's MASSIVE kongs, he does the same even on intensely long objects.

But to each their own! =D

[Crosion_5]

Well I and all my teammates have had lots of success doing it with two feet, slightly split, pushing off of both at the same time on both long and tall obstacles. Also, if you watch Toby Segar's MASSIVE kongs, he does the same even on intensely long objects.

But to each their own! =D

True.  People should just know there are options.  All of the movements need to be tailored to the individual.  It takes trial and error to find out what works best for you.

I also usually use the two foot plant 

[Sam Dutton]

A nice thing I have found about both feet but slightly apart is that your back foot comes up higher which gives you more air. I guess you could do this from split step to though.

[Ian Want]

I suppose every one has their own way of doing things, but I'm not going to argue when I know what works well for me.

He wanted advice, and that was mine.

Argument crisis, averted.

[brandon]

You should take kongs slowly. Break the habit of punching asap or else you won't progress to big distances. The strangest part of a kong is that when you start sprinting into them to get your max distance, you will need to start diving at the wall to keep your knee from slamming into the wall your konging off of. I learned this the hard way and was limping on a knee twice it's normal size for a month.
Start like this. Do small kongs on something like a planter or any thing filled in the middle with dirt so you dont have to worry about coming up short or over shooting (dont start in a gym because then you will become an over confident idiot with bad technique). You need to get the motions down because kongs are scary bad to bail on . Once you have great confidence and awareness move on to a small gap and proceed.
Technique comes with practice, and doing split leg is weird at first because you will feel that your knees will clip, just remember the faster you run, the further away from the wall you dive. Once you get it down you will feel like a boss, nothing is more satisfying than a solid kong, especially stupid speed vaults.

[bryan]

Well I and all my teammates have had lots of success doing it with two feet, slightly split, pushing off of both at the same time on both long and tall obstacles. Also, if you watch Toby Segar's MASSIVE kongs, he does the same even on intensely long objects.

But to each their own! =D

in my opinion, planting both feet at the same time and punching will really slow your momentum, causing you to gain less distance while in air.
It took me about a year to learn the split-foot technique, but I am really glad i learned it.
It improved my kong to precision (landing exact height as hand planting wall) from around 3ft-4ft  to around 6ft-7ft (7ft being on a good day).

[Crosion_5]

in my opinion, planting both feet at the same time and punching will really slow your momentum, causing you to gain less distance while in air.
It took me about a year to learn the split-foot technique, but I am really glad i learned it.
It improved my kong to precision (landing exact height as hand planting wall) from around 3ft-4ft  to around 6ft-7ft (7ft being on a good day).

I think both ways have their uses.

[Ian Want]

If your trying to kong for height I suppose punching is helpful, but thats a pretty rare case.